


parallel spirals

by The_IPRE



Category: Archive 81 (Podcast)
Genre: Drabble Collection, Gen, Post Season 3 Through LotD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:55:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26478322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_IPRE/pseuds/The_IPRE
Summary: 10 drabbles of the time between Nicholas and Chris's separation and reconnection
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	parallel spirals

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a prompt from bibliophilea on tumblr

When Chris wakes up the ground is shifting, sand moving under her feet as she takes a breath. Salt hits her tongue and her eyes fly open, a familiar world she can’t remember sprawling out before her. 

The ocean stretches as far as the eye can see, a glittering turquoise so bright it makes her squint. A four-winged bird flies overhead, carving the sky as she turns to follow its path, and then she is frozen in place for a reason she is unable to pinpoint.

A ship floats on the water, and something falls into place in her chest.

* * *

The air is heavy and still when Nicholas opens the door to his father's house. His house, he supposes, doubly so now that he’s killed the man.

Walking into the foyer, he can’t shake the unease that emanates from the hollow building. It’s been a while since he was last here but he already misses the way Chris filled the place, leaning against doorframes and talking enough shit to force the walls back for at least a moment. 

Something catches behind his ribs, unspeakable, and he allows himself to fall apart. He knows that he won’t let it happen again.

* * *

Chris gets her sea legs remarkably quickly. Standing up on deck, wind pressing against her hard enough to steal her breath, the feeling of set feet and bracing stance is a strangely familiar one.

There are a lot of things that are strangely familiar. The signs that Sonder uses and the knots that they teach her, the gruffness in Teddy’s voice as he offers her begrudging seconds, the sounds of Xkryxx’s music.

The way that Lou catches her eye and holds it for a moment too long, a grin curling along his face and summoning up one of her own.

* * *

Nicholas likes a project.

He likes having things to focus on, things to consume him and give him purpose.

It is not long before he makes sure that he has enough batteries for the recorder and enough Popeyes to feed an army and calls Static Man. He will not go back on the deal he made, after all. Besides, working to acquire a body seems an excellent new direction to continue his research into the esoteric arts. 

Time passes, and he listens to tapes and takes notes on the things Static Man has seen.

Nicholas has a promise to keep.

* * *

Chris finds that her room is just how she would have left it, which is honestly a little weird. It’s nice that she doesn’t have to do much figuring out where everything is, though, pulling open drawers with exactly what she’s looking for without having to think.

Her muscle memory begins to come back. She trains with a sword, and it’s no coincidence that one perfectly balanced to her hand is kept on _The Irons_. She finds herself standing straighter, pulling her shoulders back.

Chris finds pieces of a version of herself, and she likes the way they might fit.

* * *

Over the next two years, Nicholas eats more Popeyes than he would care to admit. On the plus side, at least he is able to get Static Man to try things that aren’t just from terrible fast food places.

Sitting on the floor across from Static Man, an open pizza box between them, Nicholas is suddenly struck by how normal it all feels. His open notebook contains page after page of rituals and Static Man is, well, a being made out of static and teeth, but the fact remains.

It is disquieting to consider what can come to be normal.

* * *

Christine Anderson decided she wanted to be called Chris when she was in middle school, short and sharp and just masculine enough to catch people off kilter. She grew and didn’t change back, because _Christine_ was too stuffy and formal to be her.

She hears Lou say Christine, all the wonder and awe of this strange new world in his voice, and she wonders who _Christine_ would be.

White hair starting to grow out, a pirate coat she found in her closet, she wonders if who she was before was Christine.

She wonders if she wants to be her again.

* * *

After two and a half years of toil with very little progress, preparing for the Blacktop ritual is surprisingly easy. 

Acquiring the roadkill is unpleasant, of course, and Nicholas spends longer than he needs to double and triple checking his work. The consequences of failing to complete the ritual are severe enough already, and he does not wish to leave any uncertainty.

Still, as he buckles his seatbelt in a Long Island parking garage, he can’t shake the feeling that it’s too easy. In this world, nothing is easy.

Nevertheless, Nicholas turns on the radio. There’s no going back now.

* * *

_The Irons_ is sailing straight into a storm. The water is uneasy and the air thrums with disruption, the world knows something is wrong, but their sails are full so they press on.

Lou sets an artifact on the main deck, one that swirls and catches the twisting wind as they approach the sheets of rain. Chris stands next to him, tense with anticipation.

It’s only been a month and a half, but she’s big enough to admit that she’s missed her brother.

Her brother who, apparently, started shit the moment he entered another dimension.

She would expect nothing less.

* * *

A storm is approaching, picking detritus from the roadside and casting it into the air. Static Man is on the verge of shouting but Nicholas doesn’t listen, can’t listen as his ears are filled with the crackle of ozone and-

Everything is silent, and still, and he does not know where he is but it is certainly not the car.

He is floating in an off-white void, glaring bright enough to make him squint.

For the first time in two and a half years he hears his sister’s voice, and something long missing settles back into place in his chest.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to leave a comment or kudos, or come talk to me on tumblr at [the-ipre](https://the-ipre.tumblr.com)!


End file.
